Officer Called ‘Unduly Familiar’ Captain Who Handled Harassment Complaints Accused By Two Female Subordinates
The officer who headed the Navy office responsible for handling sexual harassment complaints is on trial on charges that he sexually harassed two female subordinates.
Capt. Everett Greene, 47, is accused of having an “unduly familiar personal relationship with a junior subordinate” and of “creating a hostile work environment.” He also is charged with conduct unbecoming an officer.
In the second day of testimony at his court-martial, former Navy Lt. Pamela Castrucci told the eight-officer jury Thursday that she became angry and frustrated at her inability to stop Greene’s alleged overtures.
“There was nothing offensive about them,” Castrucci said, referring to a series of greeting cards sent to her by Greene in 1993. “It was just that they kept coming. It was like he always knew where I was.”
The Navy has been stung by allegations of sexual harassment of women since the Tailhook incident, in which several dozen women were sexually harassed or assaulted during a convention of the Tailhook Association in Las Vegas in September 1991.
Though he declined to comment specifically on the Greene case, Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, said Thursday that the Navy is “trying to be judicious and proper and fair in the way we’re dealing with such things, and I hope that will cause this not to be a trend.”
In a sign of the importance the Navy ascribes to the case, five of the eight officers on the jury panel are admirals, two of them from Boorda’s office.
Greene is believed to be the highest-ranking Navy officer to face a court-martial since World War II.
The case has racial as well as sexual overtones. Greene, who is black, was viewed as a talented officer ready to move up the chain of command. His accusers are white.
Greene’s responsibility during the period of the alleged violations was investigating racial and sex harassment cases for the Navy. In a news conference following Thursday’s session, Greene said his first priority was looking after, and at times, caring for his subordinates, not watching out for how his actions were being perceived.
“You’re dealing with perceptions and I have no way of controlling how someone else might interpret an otherwise innocent event,” Greene said. He said his goal is to clear his name and get on with his Navy career. “My position is that I’m not guilty.”
Greene is a Naval Academy graduate and SEAL commando leader who had been in line for promotion to rear admiral less than a year ago. That promotion was put on hold after the charges were made. A senior Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that even if Greene is found innocent, his career is likely frozen because the Senate must confirm flag officer promotions and a single senator can scuttle confirmation.
The allegations cover the time in 1993 when Castrucci and Lt. Mary E. Felix worked for Greene in the Equal Opportunity Division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington. The women alleged that Greene used inappropriate language in writing to them, refused to stop when requested, and intimidated them with his ranking position. He is not accused of physical contact with the women.
Greene, who is married and the father of three children, maintains that Felix sought sexual contact with him, which he rebuffed.